Wrench.



H. W. SIMMS.

WRENCH.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 6, 1911.

1,051,459, Patented Jan. 28, 1913.

. WITNESSES: INVENTOR L MTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY W. SIMMS, OF BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

WRENCH.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY W. SIMMs, a citizenof the United States, residing at Bay City, in the county of Bay andState of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWrenches; and I do hereby declare "the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in wrenches and pertains moreparticularly to that class of nut wrenches having a rigid jaw and aslidable jaw movable toward and from the rigid jaw and adapted to belocked at various points of its travel.

The improvement relates to the construction of the movable jaw and themeans by which it is locked in its various adjusted positions andunlocked from its connection with the rigid jaw.

The objects of my present improvement are to provide a slidable jaw ofsimple con struction that can be readily formed from sheet metal, and toprovide a locking pawl of simple construction that can be readilyremoved from the wrench for inspection or repair and can be replacedtherein without the use of pivots or similar retaining devices.

To these and other ends, therefore, my invention consists in certainnovel features and combinations of parts, together with theirequivalents, as will be more fully described hereinafter andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred form of myinvention, Figure 1 is a side view of a wrench broken away in part; Fig.2 is a plan view of the blank from which the sheath of the sliding jawis formed; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the sliding jaw and sheathassembled; and Fig. 4. is a perspective detail of the thumb piece bywhich the pawl is actuated.

1 represents the fixed jaw having a stock 2 and a handle 3, one edge ofthe stock being formed with ratchet teeth 4. A movable aw 5 is mountedon the stock 2, being received and rigidly secured between the two sides6 and 7 of the sliding sheath 8 mounted on stock 2. A pawl 9 havingratchet teeth 10 formed on its lower edge is loosely mounted between thesides of the sheath 8 and near its rear end. A compres- Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed July 6, 1911.

Patented Jan. 28, 1913.

Serial No. 637,178.

sion spring 11 is inserted between the top of the pawl and the undersideof a yoke 12 preferably formed by bending over a strip of metalprojecting from one of the sides 6 or 7 of the sheath 8.

At the rear of the pawl and pivoted to the sides of the sheath 8 is athumb piece 18 having a forwardly extending projection 14 received in atransverse notch 15 formed in the rear edge of the pawl 9. The pawl isformed with a shoulder 16 near its forward end, adapted to abut againsta correspond ing shoulder 17 formed in the movable jaw, and it isbetween these two shoulders that the strain is received when the wrenchis used in tightening a nut.

The end 18 of the pawl is beveled, as shown in Fig. 1, and the upperpart of the rear end of sliding jaw 5 is similarly beveled, therebypermitting the pawl to be easily lifted clear of the teeth 4: againstthe compression of spring 11 when the thumb piece 13 is pressed down.When so operated, the upper ends of the beveled members abut, as shownin Fig. 1, and form a fulcrum about which the pawl has a slight movementof rotating as it lifts, and at the same time, all liability of bindingor sticking is avoided; and when released, spring 11 forces the pawldown quickly. Being unattached to the sheath, the pawl is capable of aslight endwise movement by which it accommodates itself to fit into theteeth of ratchet 4.

In practice I prefer to form the sheath 8 of a single piece of sheetmetal, shaping it from a blank such as shown in Fig. 2, the sides of theblank being bent upwardly to receive the shank of the movable jaw 5between them and being fixed thereto by welding or in any other suitablemanner. The sheath 8 is provided at its lower part with a rearwardlyextending guard 19. This guard is preferably located directly oppositethe thumb piece 13 so that when the thumb piece is pressed down by thethumb of the operator to lift the pawl, the first finger rests under theguard 19, thereby enabling the jaw 5 to be slid back and forth easilyand without binding. WVhen thumb piece 13 is released, spring 11 quicklydepresses the pawl and lifts the thumb piece. To limit the amount oftravel of the movable jaw, a transverse pin 20 is secured to the stock2, the pin being so placed that its upper surface will support the loweredge 21 of the sheath 8, thereby preventing the movable jaw from rubbingagainst the ratchet teeth 4 of the stock.

By the means above described I have produced a simple and inexpensivewrench of great strength, that is capable of being easily and quicklyadjusted to suit various aid of pins or pivots.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters-Patent, is

1. In a wrench, the combination with a fixed jaw having a stock providedwith ratchet teeth, a movable jaw having a sh0ul der, a sheath securedto said movable jaw and slidably mounted on said stock, a yoke on saidsheath, a pawl loosely placed between the sides of said sheath, saidpawl having ratchet teeth and having a squared shoulder at its forwardend, a beveled shoulder on said movable jaw, and a beveled shoulder onsaid pawl engaging therewith to form a fulcrum, a compression springmounted between the top of the pawl and the yoke, a rearwardly extendingguard formed integral with the lower part of said sheath; a thumb piecepivoted to the sides of said sheath and having a forward projectionadapted to engage the rear end of said pawl; a transverse pin secured tosaid forward end and a notch at its rear end; a

beveled shoulder on said movable jaw and a beveled shoulder on said pawlengaging therewith to form a fulcrum, a compression spring interposedbetween the top of the pawl and the yoke, adapted to normally press saidpawl downward, and a thumb piece pivoted to the sides of said sheath andhaving a forward projection adapted to engage the notch of said pawl; aprojecting member carried by said stock and slidably supporting thelower edge of said sheath to prevent contact of the movable j aw withthe teeth of said stock.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signa ture in presence of twowitnesses.

HENRY W. SIMMS.

Witnesses CHRISTINE A.BRAIDEL, GEO. W. SMITH.

' Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, l"

Washington, D. G.

